Party Time!

It was my birthday recently (yes, I had a Winnie the Pooh table cloth and, no, I'm not 5), a fairly simple affair but I had a good day and everyone was nice to me. :-). For tea, it was just my mum, sister, brother and me (Dad was at work) so I made the pictured party tea (or 'buffet' if you're feeling slightly posher), anyway it was simple to make and (we thought) rather tasty, so I thought I'd share some of my ideas.

• Houmous with carrot sticks (this has become a small obsession of mine, but obviously you can have any dip. We had Lemon and Coriander Houmous and very nice it was too, you can dip other things depending on how healthy you want to feel - it is a party after all)
• Cocktail sausages (need I say more? These are essential in my opinion, we cheated and got ready cooked ones!)
• Quiche (again this was a cheat from the shops, but it was very good)
• Mini jacket potatoes (so cute! And I needed to think of some more filling items as most of my family had been at work/school so only had sandwiches for lunch. There are a million and one fillings you can use for jacket potatoes, but I mixed a bit of creme fraiche with some chives (mine were dried) and a tiny bit of lemon juice, which made a nice change).
• French bread pizza (I cut rounds from french bread, spread reasonably generously with tomato puree, and then put cheese and ham on the top before putting under the grill. The cheese wasn't very coloured because the bread started to burn, but they tasted really good).
• Pesto pasta (very simple - cook some pasta and then stir in red pesto to taste, serve warm or cold)
• We also had bread and butter, kettle chips and pom bear (another essential part food) and then some grapes and party rings before we had cake later in the evening.

Well, I hope that was interesting and gave you some ideas. Nothing is that spectacular, but sometimes it just takes a simple idea to help you ring the changes. I assembled all of this in 45 minutes, so it was very quick and easy (I wasn't working all the time). Also it sounds like a lot of food, but it was about right (and you can quickly make extra of most things if you need to)

Tomato Sauce with Pasta

I know, pasta is not exactly an unknown student food, but that doesn't mean it can't be tasty. I have made this tomato sauce many times, it is really cheap as well as being yummy and healthy. Yesterday, I tried making homemade pasta for the first time and had it with this sauce, I fed it to my mum, my brother and my sister and it was so successful it has been requested again. I was worried about making pasta, but it was really easy (and I made it completely by hand, no pasta machine involved), quite therapeutic to make and a nice way to spend an hour or so. Obviously, I won't be using it all the time, but I would encourage everyone to try it! Here's the recipe...

Pasta (to serve four)

300g plain flour

3 eggs

Put the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle, crack the eggs into the well and beat using a fork. Gradually incorporate the flour into the eggs. When it is all beginning to stick, use your hand to bring it together (adding a bit more flour or water if needed). Place onto a floured surface and knead until lovely and smooth (5 minutes+, it's up to you really). Wrap in cling film and leave to rest for an hour or so....

.....when it has rested, flour a large surface (probably a clean table) and roll the dough out nice and thin (not too thin though), keep turning the pasta and adding more flour if necessary to stop it sticking. When it's rolled out, cut it into the required shapes (I made tagliatelle for this recipe). Put the strips onto a plate, and cover with clingfilm until ready to use.

When ready to use, add to a pan of boiling slightly salted water. Return to the boil and then cook for about a couple of minutes (time will vary depending how thick your pasta is, taste it to be sure!), before draining and stirring in the sauce.

Tomato Sauce (serves four)

One onion (chopped, as fine as you like)

Two tins of chopped tomatoes

About a tablespoon of tomato puree

Teaspoon of sugar

Dried basil (or fresh if you've got it)

8 rashers of streaky bacon (completely optional, obviously)

Fry the onion in a little oil until softened (this will take about ten minutes), then add the tomatoes, tomatoe puree, sugar and basil to the pan. Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer until the water has evaporated and you are left with a thick sauce (this will take about 20 minutes or so, be careful not to let it dry out). Meanwhile, fry the bacon until crispy and place onto kitchen towel to absorb the excess fat. When the sauce is finished, chop up the bacon and stir in. Add the sauce to the pasta and stir through, before serving.

Serve with grated cheese

Even with ready made pasta, this sauce is really good and being made from storecupboard ingredients, a good tea is never more than 30 minutes away! (The sauce is versatile, add fresh basil, garlic, chilli, whatever you fancy)